Nancy Davidson

Dustup

September 6 - October 6, 2012

Betty Cuningham Gallery, New York, NY

In her first exhibition at Betty Cunigham Gallery, an inflated sculpture called Dustup is the center of attention. Rodeo and the Cowgirl, overstated reenactments of Western legend, provide an arena for humor, acknowledgement and the source of a girl's can do spirit.

Recognizing the proto feminist position of the cowgirl in her life, Davidson began her research, through the support of Creative Capital, to visit and record rodeo events in her Cowgirl research. All Stories are True, her first video is derived from this footage. The roadside attractions and in particular the Roadside Monuments of the American West also inspired her longstanding fascination with inflated forms, large scale and ephemeral but riveting spectacles.

In such a temporary monument, cartoon characters fighting in a ball of dust appeared to be the ideal subject because they contained turmoil, action, struggle, let alone winning or losing. Originally imagined as an event in itself inspiring a celebration of women's individualism at museums, civic events and commemorations the elements expressed a more rambunctious, scrappy but determined characteristic of riding the animal in the direction it is going. And going it is. Dustup seems frozen in mid stride. Davidson's work is playful yet serious, formally exhilarating yet contextually provocative. Grandeur with pathos, absurd and poignant what better title than Dustup?

2013 Let ‘er Buck, Boca Museum of Art, Boca Raton, Florida.

2012 Dustup, Betty Cuningham Gallery, New York, New York.